As a consultant to ministry and business leaders around the world, I’ve noticed that some struggles are universal — in every field and at every level.

Over the years, I’ve identified nine common roadblocks to productivity. Many leaders live with these impediments so long they become part of the organization’s culture. But with courage, wisdom and tenacity, you can overcome these difficulties.

1. Measuring the Wrong Things
We’re used to measuring things, from blood pressure and body weight to bank account balances and game scores.

The things we measure demand our attention. Our task as leaders is to identify the pursuits that need measurable goals. In most ministries, leaders measure the ABCs: attendance, buildings and cash. But we also need to measure the number of first-time guests who come to our services, the proportion of guests to regular attenders, the conversion rate of guests who become attendees and the conversion rate of attendees who become members of small groups and volunteers in ministry activities.

A vision without a plan is just a hope, and a plan without a deadline is only a wish.

Leaders who overlook the above measurable categories are often frustrated and confused when they don’t see retention, involvement and spiritual growth. In the same way, businesses need to look beneath the bottom line and measure the intangible elements that lead to — or hold up — excellence, productivity and results.

2. People in the Organization Don’t Feel Responsible to Fulfill the Vision
When I talk to people below the top management level in any business, non-profit or church, I often realize they don’t get up in the morning thinking about how their role is essential in fulfilling the vision and mission of the organization. They have tunnel vision, focusing on their narrow roles and responsibilities.

Perhaps they didn’t listen when the CEO or pastor explained how their roles are essential and contribute to the overall mission, or perhaps the leader hasn’t explained the connection at all. When our people don’t make this vital and game-changing connection, they aren’t as creative, enthusiastic, desperate in prayer or tenacious in their roles.

3. Unresolved Conflict
In any significant relationship, disagreements are inevitable. In fact, the ability to argue agreeably is a sign of emotional health and organizational strength.

The problem occurs when disagreements turn into personal attacks — or people interpret them that way — and hurt feelings remain buried and unresolved. Resentment soon festers, resulting in passive-aggressive behavior, innuendo, gossip and side-taking factions. Resentment poisons a team. In a meeting, people may give assent to a plan, but they do their best to sabotage it if it came from someone who hurt them.

One of the most important tasks of a leader is wading in to bring long-simmering conflict to the surface and resolve it. But sadly, many don’t have the courage to take this step. They excuse their passivity by claiming to be “peacemakers,” insisting that addressing it will only make things worse. When they finally address conflict, tensions almost certainly increase, but only temporarily. Left alone, however, simmering resentment becomes a cancer on the team and spreads throughout the entire organization. Before long, the leader has to deal with multiplied, ugly results of the conflict, but if she or he fails to address the root cause, the problems persist and escalate toward erosion.

4. Too Much Mercy
Certainly, we need to extend grace to people who are having a bad day, or even a bad week, but it’s irresponsible to let someone cause perpetual problems through irresponsible behavior, passivity or divisiveness. When people fail in a responsibility or cause conflict, leaders need to step in to speak the truth and offer a path forward. If the person is humble enough to receive instruction, everybody wins. But if the person blames others, offers an array of excuses or minimizes the problem, the leader has a responsibility to the rest of the people in the organization to take action.

All leaders have to wear two hats. Pastors wear the hats of a shepherd and a CEO; business leaders wear the hats of a coach and a production manager. In both arenas, I’ve seen leaders extend too much mercy to people who were incompetent or divisive. These leaders had excuses and reasons, but they were making a choice to wear only one of their hats. Some people avoid saying and doing the hard things because they don’t like conflict and can’t stand disapproval, but dodging reality creates far bigger problems.

5. Failure to Leverage Peer Pressure
In outstanding teams, from SEAL Teams to ministry teams, every member feels responsible for success.   Everyone is presumably essential to accomplishing the mission, so no one may give less than his or her best.

When people fail in a responsibility or cause conflict, leaders need to step in to speak the truth and offer a path forward.

We often talk about peer pressure in adolescents as a negative influence, but peer pressure can be an incredibly positive and powerful factor that stimulates productivity. When businesses and churches have this kind of esprit de corps, everyone is dedicated and creative, everyone has each other’s backs, and everyone pushes others to do their best. For a nonproductive slacker, there’s nowhere to hide. Team members don’t wait for the leader to notice and step in. Those who work side-by-side address the issue, often before it becomes a major problem.

Great teams have systems and mechanisms to ensure positive peer pressure. Regular reports encourage transparency, honesty, communication, feedback and clear steps to resolve any difficulty. These systems continually clarify the mission and individuals’ expectations so there is no question about acceptable — and exceptional — performance of every member of the team.

6. Lack of Personal Improvement Plans
Certainly, corporate goals and incremental benchmarks are essential for success, but many leaders fail to require personal improvement plans for each member of the team. Seasoned employees need an annual review to assess progress toward corporate and personal goals. New employees may need these assessments more frequently, perhaps quarterly, for the first year.

In these reviews, the manager provides an honest assessment of the person’s progress based on the last agreed-upon goals and benchmarks, but it’s important for the manager to invite the team member to identify self-assigned goals. Personal investment encourages maximum buy-in from the team member. At each review, the manager can assess the person’s accomplishment of corporate goals, and the team member can report progress toward personal goals. The self-assigned goals need to be very specific and measurable. For instance, a goal might be: “Respond to each email within 24 hours,” “Send an agenda for our staff meeting, with assignments, to my team by noon the day before we meet” or, “Send reports by 3 in the afternoon on the day they’re due.”

When self-assigned goals are included in the review, the manager and the employee both give an evaluation of performance and progress. For this reason, the conversation is more specific and more encouraging than the traditional method of top-down reviews.

7. Lack of Resources
As I talk to team members to find out what’s really going on in a business or church, I often uncover frustration. They have an assigned responsibility, but they don’t have adequate resources to fulfill it. The problem might be tangible or intangible. Sometimes the person doesn’t have adequate financial resources, personnel, space or time to accomplish the task. But people often tell me they don’t have information they need to plan appropriately, they lack training, and they do not have access to outside consultants who can help them plan and execute the task.

Sometimes the leader feels too busy and stressed to delegate a job and take the time to help the person identify and secure resources. The leader’s real goal is getting it off his or her plate as quickly as possible. Good leadership, though, requires more than instant delegation. Excellence, trust and productivity won’t happen without taking the next step of helping the team member secure adequate resources to get the job done right.

8. Deadlines Are Too Flexible
A vision without a plan is just a hope, and a plan without a deadline is only a wish. Many leaders are too flexible when team members push back on deadlines. Of course, unforeseen circumstances might cause a problem, and unexpected delays are sometimes unavoidable. Missing deadlines for good reasons usually doesn’t harm the environment of a team, but delays stemming from poor planning and irresponsible behavior poison the team’s culture.

When a leader caves in and allows a team member to miss a deadline, it sends a loud and clear message to the whole team: “What I say doesn’t really matter!”

When team members realize this is the reality, irresponsible ones take plenty of liberties, and the responsible ones lose respect for the leader. Ultimately, productivity plummets for everybody.

In every meeting and for every assignment, the leader must clarify assignments and deadlines. The agenda for each meeting, personally or for the team, should include a report of progress for each outstanding assignment, with a clear reinforcement of the deadline. This isn’t heavy-handed, rigid or unkind. Instead, it shows that the leader values the contribution of all the people on the team and holds them accountable.

9. Lack of Support from Leaders
We hold the title of leaders for a reason. We’re to be involved in shaping the attitudes and stimulating the performance of the people on our teams. As I travel and meet with team members, I often hear them say, “I love my job, and I’m very committed to the work we’re doing, but I don’t feel appreciated. Maybe I shouldn’t need that, or even want that, but it would be a lot more motivating if I felt valued.”

Some people avoid saying and doing the hard things because they don’t like conflict and can’t stand disapproval, but dodging reality creates far bigger problems.

We should be our team’s biggest cheerleader. Yes, we’re responsible for the bottom line of productivity, but our commitment to meet organizational benchmarks is no excuse for failing to support the people on our teams. We’re coaches and shepherds, as well as goal-driven managers.

We provide support in many different ways: thanking people for excellence or a good attitude, noticing when someone has done a good job and pointing it out to others, celebrating progress toward a specific goal, providing clarity with patience, exhibiting rigorous optimism when things aren’t going well, helping people get up and take the next step when they fall and creating an inspiring culture for the entire organization.

These nine roadblocks aren’t unique to the church or to America, and they aren’t limited to top leaders. I’ve seen them from the top to the bottom of every kind of organization and in every corner of the globe. Sadly, I’ve seen many leaders bury their heads in the sand and refuse even to look at the glaring impediments in their churches and businesses. Their people long for clarity and attention — they want their leaders to actually be leaders! But as I’ve met with men and women around the world, I’ve had the privilege to see some exhibit a beautiful blend of wisdom, love and courage. These leaders refused to be blind any longer. When they saw a roadblock, they moved heaven and earth to overcome it. These are the leaders who inspire all those around them — and they inspire me, too. And these are the leaders who accomplish great things in and through the people on their teams.

This article first appeared in the December-January 2016 issue of Influence magazine.